The term "under the law" can be quite confusing as it is used in different ways.
In Romans 3 What so ever things the law says, it says to them
who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for
you are not under the law, but under grace.
6:15 What then? shall we sin, because
we are not under the law, but under grace?
1 Corinthians "to
them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
9:21 To
them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but
under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
Gal. 3:23 But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up until faith be revealed
Gal. 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law,
4:5 To redeem them that were
under the law,
Gal. 4:21 Tell me, ye that
desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal. 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law. How do we understand the term?
a) under the jurisdiction of the law
b) under the condemnation of the law
c) under the Jewish understanding of the law
d) having a great knowledge of the Torah
e) all of the above, and must be read in context?
Here is J.N.Andrews thoughts on this.
"Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Rom.3:19,20.
This portion of scripture presents in a striking light the state of mankind without a Saviour. The Apostle had been presenting in the previous verses numerous quotations from the Old Testament, showing the fearful state of fallen man. The verses which we have quoted, present us with the holy standard of rectitude by which the unrighteousness of men is made manifest, and their fearful crimes left without excuse. "What things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law." How many, then, are under the law? The remainder of the verse determines this with certainty. "That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." This fact then is plainly stated: that the whole human family are addressed by the law of God; that all of its members without distinction of rank, or order, share in one general condemnation; and that condemnation is so just, that every mouth is shut, and all the world stands speechless before the bar of God. The twenty-third verse explains the cause of this: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
The law of God can justify no flesh in his sight. But why cannot the law justify sinful man? Because by the law is the knowledge of sin. Man is guilty of transgression, and the law of God discovers and manifests this fact. The law is God's great rule of right; and as such, it shows every departure from rectitude and holiness. We have thus seen the sad state of fallen men. Let us now consider what God does for their salvation. If he takes back his law, one of two things must be true:-
1. He takes back an unjust law, and thus acknowledges that he was the cause of man's condemnation. But this is false; for we have seen that the law is so just that none can plead against its righteous sentence. Hence if God has taken back his law we shall be compelled to adopt the second position; namely,
2. He takes back a just law, thus denying his own moral character as expressed in that law, and overthrowing his own moral government. God cannot lie; and it is manifestly absurd to teach that God has abolished the principles of his own moral government. Hence we conclude that God did not, and could not overthrow his own moral law, in order to save its transgressors.
We inquire again, What did the great Law-giver do in order to save men? If he did not take back his law, and abolish his own moral government, what did he do? It would seem that but one other thing could be done; namely, to put the law in force upon its transgressors. In other words, to execute its
penalty upon the human race. If this were done, all must be destroyed; for all were its transgressors; and the wages of sin is death. Let us now with gratitude and adoration look at the wondrous plan which God has devised for man's redemption: a plan in which justice and mercy meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other: [Ps.85:8-13:] a system of redemption by which God can be just and yet can justify him that believeth in Jesus. It is set forth by Paul in the following language:-
"Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Rom.3:24-26.
In these words the great plan of redemption is set forth; but oh! what has it not cost! Man had broken the law of Jehovah and fallen under its awful and yet just condemnation. God could not reverse his holy law without destroying the moral government of the universe; but he so loved our race that he gave his only Son to die for perishing man. John3:14-17. He sent his Son to be the propitiation or offering for the sins of men. 1John4:10.
Christ came to take the curse of the law upon himself, and to offer his life as a ransom for its transgressors. Gal.3:13; 1Tim.2:5,6. The perpetuity of God's Law by J.N.Andrews